Three For Three
by Vycksta
Summary: Apache may be defeated but there was no way that Halibel was going to let her death be in vain. Another Vycksta style twist, this time on chapters 339, pages 7 through to 14.


**Title**: Three For Three  
**Fandom**: Bleach  
**Ship**: Halipache (( Halibel x Apache ))  
**Rating**: T for character deaths, although they are not exactly gory...

**Authors Notes**: New year, repeated mission; to publish at least one one-shot every month this year. I failed big time last year but hopefully it'll be different in 2009, especially as i'm pretty much obsessed with my latest fandom. ;B -pats Bleach-

Since Blunt Favouritsm there has been changes in what I ship. Apache doesn't go with Ggio Vega, Halibel is not shipped with Sun-Sun. I now proudly support Halipache and it's become my OTP. So deal. I've always been a shipper of the different.

Three For Three has been done to try and give Apache's death some justice and also for me to get into the flow of writing Halibel. The ship may be listed at the top but nothing drastically romantic happens; you'll see what I mean when you read along... if you read along ha ha. -is hopeful-

Reviews make me squee, constructive criticism is also appreciated and flames just give me a LAWLGASM; i'll never stop writing for nobody, even if my muse is a little shit who disappears for months at a time...

With all that said, I hope you enjoy regardless!

---

She was beginning to wonder if destiny and fate were actually rather cruel, playing a degrading prank on her in the final moments of her existence.

This fire she was surrounded by was clearly the most powerful, most intense and definitely the hottest she had ever encountered... and also the wickedest; heat as ferocious as this should have wiped her out in a matter of seconds yet it was as if this fire had emotion, had feeling, had sentiment. But by the way the flames were slowly devouring her increasingly smoking body the emotion was nothing but deviousness, the feeling stopping short of apathy and the sentiment was easily more diabolical than anything nasty she had ever done.

Sensing that the powerful flames were inching nearer and nearer towards her heart and that the billowing smoke that was being inhaled by her was ready to consume her lungs, she reached out her blazing arms in opposite directions towards the areas where her two comrades, who were also being subjected to the same fate, were. The fire may have blurred her vision to crazy extremes yet she knew one thing was for definite; they certainly were not there anymore. The fire had claimed their lives and they were nothing but mere ashes, specks of black that were very slowly scattering themselves freely across the calm winds embracing the area surrounding the fake Karakura Town.

"Damn it... Mila Rose, Sun-Sun..." she managed to splutter, smoke twisting somewhat proudly out of her mouth as she uttered those words.

The fire by now had crept up nearer towards her face, claiming the left side and now rendering her blind in the eye on that same side. The pain was now becoming increasingly overbearing yet she refused to scream in agony; her stubborn pride refused to back down just yet. Instead she used her right arm to provide a burning shield for her solitary, sea blue coloured eye as she glanced over to her left to try and picture out somebody. This image was getting hazier by the millisecond, yet she could still recognise the figure with relative ease.

A dark skinned woman with honey coloured eyes and hair pigmented the same shade, which was for the most part loose and slightly unkempt except for three lengthy strands that were tied tightly. Her outfit consisted of a white top which covered her mouth and had long sleeves, the main body of this garment finishing halfway down her breasts, white trousers that were for the most part baggy and sandals over tight black stockings, although to the one meeting a death with fire this outfit in its entirety was now looking yellow... then orange... then black...

She sighed, looking through a squinted eye at her flaring arm, then back to the figure she was gazing at a few moments ago. With a weak smile, one that despite what she was enduring was one of total admiration, she bowed her head, partly as a form of courtesy and respect for this woman, partly because the fire was now that bad she could no longer move much more.

"Halibel..." she muttered in pain, refusing to let a tear trail down the remainder of her face.

Remains of the hand that was limply protecting her face not so long ago reached down to whatever was still around of her torso as she finally faced facts; death was imminent, destiny and fate concluding with a mutual boredom of keeping her alive in the fire. Although as she grimaced from the inferno, Apache was not exactly sure of why she found this so harsh; was it because she, as her Fraccion, would never work under Halibel ever again? Or because that the final words she heard before being consumed by the heated element were those that instantly struck a chord of hatred with her;

"I approve of your spirit, going on the offensive with one arm missing. Out of respect for that spirit I will allow you to walk away no more than a little charred."

Angering herself all over again, Apache shifted her burning head slightly in the direction of the person who uttered those words so calmly, so proudly and to her, so boastfully. There was no way out of this for her now but the Arrancar was not going to die just yet. She had one final act to do, to prove that she was the more stubborn. Gingerly and agonizingly clenching what was supposed to be a fist but in reality was half a palm and the base of her little finger, Apache took in her last, smoke filled breath and hollered in the direction of, grudgingly to her, her murderer.

"YOU PATRONIZING BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT SHIT TO ME WITHOUT KNOWING WHO I AM. MARK MY WORDS YOU OLD FUCKER, YOU WILL NOT BE STANDING THERE SO PROUDLY FOR MUCH LONGER..."

And with that last word said and her prideful mind content, Apache let herself fall backwards and let the blaze take over what was left of her charred body.

"Halibel..." the Arrancar whispered to herself, not realizing that a tear was cascading down what was left of her cheek. "I love you..."

Finally, death became of the spirited young Fraccion, the fire increasing in power over her remains as if it was celebrating an amazing victory.

"Mmm?"

Not happy enough in taking the form of fire and flames and using a lot of time to kill Apache, the fickle combination of destiny and fate decided to play another twisted game, taking the form of the wind and somersaulting through the air to dance a merry foxtrot through the three braided strands of hair belonging to Apache's master and leader, Halibel. This was an action that did not go unnoticed, the woman Arrancar instantly sensing that the words she heard Apache scream so clearly just a mere ninety seconds ago were not a cry of victory or a declaration of confidence, it was a proclamation of despair... and loss. Alas, there was no way she could turn around and confirm her mental fears. Destiny and fate were not going to have their seemingly wicked ways just yet...

Halibel's nonchalant gaze remained transfixed on her opponent, a young man with silvery hair and turquoise eyes and who was adorned in the clothes of a captain from the well-known Soul Society. She was unsure as to exactly how long she had been crossing swords with her soul reaper enemy... she was only sure of two different matters. One, she was getting bored battling with somebody who seemed to have a permanent frown etched onto his face... and two, she was now impatient; she wanted to see for herself exactly what had become of her trio of Fraccion yet with her opponent still very much conscious that was something that could not happen at the present moment in time.

The air surrounding Halibel now started to whistle not only intensely but eerily as well, the high-pitched sound concentrating in the hollow area of the Arrancar's soul-cutting sword, the zanpaktou. This noise hastily increased in both pitch and power as a fluorescent green light began to form in the empty space in the sword. Mentally smiling in confidence, Halibel waited a few more seconds for the light to consume the entire void in her zanpaktou before charging towards her enemy, confidently holding the sword aloft with a two-handed grip.

During this short space of time which could have easily been mistaken for an eternity, her opponent watched Halibel's actions curiously to try and develop a better understanding of the impending throe... an action that he was instantly regretting. He tried in vain not to let the shock appear in his eyes upon the vision of the female Arrancar bolting towards him; he wasn't expecting a dramatic change in tactic like this. From what he gathered during the battle with Halibel, he placed her down as being a very secretive battler; somebody who would gradually bring out battling prowess to try and shake the enemy. This was too much, too soon.

And in order to keep up with this latest phase in the struggle, he knew that he had to skip a few stages himself.

"BANKAI!" he hollered, taking a few steps back and holding his own zanpaktou up into the colourless sky. "Daiguren Hyourinmaru!"

Out of nowhere an array of ice shards circled the youthful soul reaper and hastily attached themselves onto his body, concentrating mainly on his back to begin to construct a gigantic, yet magnificent, pair of sturdy wings. This ice was speedy, but not fast enough... for Halibel only needed a couple of seconds to reach her opponent and bring down her zanpaktou in one almighty swing, the power in that action nothing short of dominating.

Reeling back in tremendous agony from bearing the entire brunt of that move, Halibel's opponent could feel his consciousness drifting away from him as hurriedly as he was skimming across the empty space above Karakura Town's duplicate. He mentally cursed himself for allowing Halibel to have some time to produce the forceful power in her sword, before wishing that this would not be the move that finished him just as blackness claimed him.

With a stern glare in her honey coloured eyes, Halibel glided her sword lightly through the air, the fading green light trailing the path taken as the blade itself ceased to whistle and whirr. She remained in a battling stance, her stare concentrating on her unconscious rival skidding further and further away from the Arrancar. Willpower told her not to move until the soul reaper had ceased movement himself and that mentally she was certain he would not be waking up for a while, a while being as long as she needed to see what had become of her trio of loyal Fraccion...

Three minutes had passed, two since her enemy had finished sliding across from being smacked by her zanpaktou. Finally Halibel decided that she could observe the scenes behind her without fear of being attacked when distracted. With a slightly heavy heart Halibel turned around... and destiny and fate were going to be getting their cruel satisfaction after an impatient wait.

About eighty feet away from her were three thinning pillars of smoke, each of them uniquely twisting and gaining height as a result of the clearer air breaking this greyer substance apart. A further ten or so metres from the trio of columns stood a man dressed in the same robes as Halibel's opponent. His back is to Halibel but she could see that he had a long white moustache and beard, which seemed to be billowing powerfully in the wind, the element casually flaunting them at his left side. He was also clutching a wooden walking aid, Halibel instantly guessing correctly that this man's zanpaktou was concealed within.

She also knew that this man, thanks to her own leader's telling, is the commander general of the entire Soul Society. A man who was the biggest force ever to reckon with, a man who has possibly lived at least five thousand of Halibel's lives and by the way the view perceived to her, the man who wiped out the existences of her three Fraccion in a single flick of his own weapon. She wanted to attack there and then, but Halibel chose to remain cautious and observant for the time being.

Glancing to her right she could see a gigantic upside-down pyramid of softly glowing purple light not a great deal away from where the commander general stood. It was clear to her that the killer of her comrades was observing this illuminated structure, making sure that whoever was inside would eventually emerge from it unharmed. Squinting, Halibel could just about make the shapes of two separate figures, one of which seemed to be attempting to heal the other, who was lying down. Blonde hair was also vaguely noticeable, causing Halibel to again come to a correct conclusion; that the person being treated was the woman who confidently claimed before the beginning of the whole battle that she would take on all three of Halibel's spirited Fraccion, she who fell in one hit to Allon.

Cutting a forlorn figure standing all on her own, Halibel looked down below her to the fake Karakura Town, determination gripping her all the more. She reached to her top and slowly pulled upwards to unzip it, stopping after a few inches to reveal more of her massive bust... and in particular a slightly cursive looking tattoo of the number three on the left side of her right breast.

"You fought well." she commented bluntly but with slight sentiment in her voice, looking at the trio of smoke pillars which were now nothing but mere wisps ready to be consumed by the wind. She then looked at each one in turn, saying something different each time.

"Mila Rose..." she whispered at the ever decreasing smoke on the far right and then turned to the wisp that was furthest left. "Sun-Sun..."

That was the cue for the generally placid combination of destiny and fate to play their third and last malicious little trick, their second on Halibel.

Picking up at an immensely rapid rate, the wind gathered up a great deal of momentum. This gale was enough to obliterate the last little trails of smoke, the final trickles of grey that represented Halibel's three Fraccion. As if trained to perform like this on a regular basis, the gusty element then seemed to divide itself into three, taking the ashes of the younger Arrancar in the same directions as to where the wind was blowing. The remains of Sun-Sun, the most mature of the three Fraccion, disappeared into the east. Those of Mila Rose, the one who looked the eldest, cascaded awkwardly to the west.

Yet the ashes of the third Fraccion, the one who was in the centre, refused to flow further into the air, instead choosing to make a stubborn, contorted, invisible billow of air towards Halibel herself...

The power of this gale took Halibel by surprise, forcing her to take one small step backwards and for her to slant her eyes. At the same time she couldn't help but mentally be somewhat amused; the ashes contained in this breeze belonged to the more stubborn, more impulsive, more easily annoyed and by far the more loyal of her Fraccion.... and one who certainly held a special place in the woman's memories. Instinctively she reached out a hand into the gale and clenched her hand tightly shut, bringing her fist to her face. Through her jacket she then placed a chaste kiss on her fist and looked proudly into the sky.

"Apache, I..."

She blinked. She could sense an enormous amount of spiritual pressure gathering behind her, which could only mean one thing; her opponent had at long last gained consciousness. Kissing her fist once more, she then ran that hand through her hair as if to keep whatever minute ashes she caught with her and clenched her zanpaktou tightly with both hands, very much aware that by the way the energy was advancing, she was being charged at by the rival. Refusing to turn around until the right moment, Halibel took a final look at Soul Society's commander general and took one deep, but calm and collected breath.

"Apache, I love you too... and I will avenge your death."

The time between that last word spoken and the first action taken was minute, for Halibel knew that she couldn't waste this chance. Gripping her zanpaktou with both hands much tighter than usual, she swung her weapon around with such force it could have been enough to dislocate both of her shoulder joints from their sockets. However the only noise heard was the sickening, yet satisfactory to Halibel, sound of metal meeting and slicing skin, for one perfectly executed sweep was all that it took to detach the head of her spirited soul reaper rival away from the rest of his body... the process known as beheading.

Smirking almost wildly underneath her snow white jacket, Halibel immediately reached for the severed head before it went further away from her, grabbing it by the silvery locks and holding it to her eye level. She looked intensively into its turquoise eyes, mentally getting a kick from seeing the shine, the sparkle, the life drain away so suddenly from them. In this short space of time the body had fallen, almost ironically, by her feet, the blood that spurted out from that action dotting her trousers crimson.

If that duration was to be recorded, it probably was no longer than thirty seconds... yet half a minute was all Halibel needed to not only cease the existence of one young man so briefly, but already her promise to Apache, her fallen girlfriend, was coming into fruition.

She turned around, lowering the hand that clenched her ex-rival's head down by her side, to once again look at the scene she was only watching a brief time ago. Instantly she could tell that the views and the actions being performed were pretty much the same as before... yet she also knew something else; that it soon wouldn't be long before the three figures would sense that there was an occurrence that shouldn't be happening. With confidence, she started to charge up the power in her zanpaktou for a second time, the air near to her soon quickly being invaded with the sound of horrendous whistling.

"Captain..." she spoke cockily, casting a prideful glance down at the head still gripped in her hand. "Do not worry, for you will soon be joined by your lieutenant..."

"What was that sound?"

Inside the luminous pyramid of lilac light a male voice uttered that question with some urgency, looking beyond the bright shape to his comrade who was indeed the commander general of Soul Society and the man who finished off Halibel's three Fraccion in one swoop of his zanpaktou. The question did not go unheard, the clearly older male turning slightly to look at his fellow soul reaper.

"I think we can assume that that ominous whistling is the sound emitting from the blade of the female Espada, Captain Hitsugaya's opponent. But rest assured Izuru, there will be no way that she will be able to penetrate this barrier should she be foolhardy enough to try and come this way."

"Ah, okay." Izuru replied in a much calmer tone of voice, turning his attention back onto the woman he was trying so desperately to heal, the woman who attempted to take on all Halibel's comrades at once and is paying the price of missing half her torso. "Yet with all due respect Yamamoto, she is an Espada and we cannot underestimate her."

By now an immensely high-pitched whistling noise was getting closer, getting louder... and gaining power. This was instantly picked up by both Izuru and the commander general, who both knew that there could be only one explanation for it; that Halibel was indeed "foolhardy" enough to try. While Izuru devoted more of his attention to healing his associate despite the nerves creeping up and consuming him slowly, Yamamoto readily gripped his cane-like weapon, gearing himself up for battle.

"We're not..." he started to say to Izuru... and it was all that was spoken.

A powerful streak of stunning grass green light advanced directly towards the illuminated pyramid where both Izuru and his accomplice were concealed. Trying not to panic, Izuru increased the power of the healing techniques he learned while as a member of the fourth division knowing full well that this light was showing no signs of decelerating. This gain in power seemed to be enough as slowly the blonde woman's abdomen was starting to reform but it proved to be too little too late as in one turbulent sounding crunch the pyramid barrier of Tozansho was shattered and all Izuru could see was green...

Before black.

In an action that was just as swift and immense as her last swing Halibel had not only broken Izuru's form of protection, she had also decapitated him in the same method as she performed on her last victim; separating his head from his body. Wasting no time she grabbed his head by his parted blonde fringe and charged up her zanpaktou once more, relishing in the fact that her uniform was slowly changing colour from white to red due to Izuru's blood escaping his body in wayward directions.

"Apache was right." she spoke coolly, looking down at the blonde lieutenant and taking in her horrified expression, her still-bleeding torso and her rasping breaths for life. "You were not even a match for her alone."

If whistling had the ability to show emotion and deliver expressions then in the case of this latest one it would be nothing but completion and satisfaction, Halibel's zanpaktou wasting not a second in becoming a guillotine for the third time by beheading the long-suffering lieutenant and ending her life instantly. At was at that point that the female Espada stood in a battling stance again, to make sure that she could have a few seconds to gather her thoughts. Once she was certain she bent down and picked up the newly separated head, holding it aloft with the other severed heads of Izuru and her first opponent.

"One... two... three." she counted slowly and deliberately, looking into the soulless eyes of the heads as she did so. She also would have picked up the two armbands attached to the headless bodies and worn them both on her own arm purely to gloat but she could sense that the atmosphere around her was getting warmer by the millisecond; that fire was beginning to surround her and was ready to devour her...

The explosion that occurred from the fire's intensity meeting air's calmness was a powerful, bewildering sight to behold, thick pillars of contorted black smoke twisting around in a variety of directions out of a ball of intensely coloured oranges and reds. This tightly concentrated combination of elements seemed to be arguing forever amongst themselves for space, for freedom... but one man was patient enough to wait for the elemental bickering to end.

Standing proudly and with his zanpaktou held lightly and confidently in his right hand, Yamamoto watched the slow separation of flame and wind with careful precision to make sure that he would not miss a single unwanted change in movement. He remained in that stance for as long as the division took, assurance gaining by the lack of anything else appearing when air broke up the fumes and cleared the way.

It was five minutes before there was no trace of fire that could be seen by the naked eye... and Yamamoto nodded approvingly. For not only had the fire disappeared but everything else that was in the way beforehand... the decapitated bodies of two lieutenants and the standing, living one of his enemy... had also vanished without even a speck of ash to show for it. Sagely nodding and lowering his zanpaktou down by his side, Yamamoto felt a twinge of sadness for the loss of a pair of his more powerful comrades yet knew two things. One, his associates were already dead by the time he launched his attack. Two, the enemy was also defeated and that was certainly something to take comfort in, something that would have been met in agreement by the two fallen.

Taking a few calming breaths, Yamamoto hoped that Halibel had suffered as instantly as the two he saw beheaded and thoughtfully looked at the area where she last stood.

"Somebody with power as great as yours, but who is an enemy, needs to be eradicated as quickly as possible."

"I couldn't agree more."

He blinked. There was no way, was there?

Yamamoto swiftly turned around... and gasped. There, standing a mere ten metres away from the commander general was Halibel, who was completely and totally unharmed. Her zanpaktou was clenched with her right hand with the blade resting over her shoulders while still gripped in her left were the three heads of those she had killed, albeit very charred and difficult to recognise. Tilting her head slightly to her right, Halibel confidently threw the blackened heads over to Yamamoto, flinging them with just enough force for them to land awkwardly at his feet.

He refused to look at the heads, Yamamoto sensing that if he was to do so then Halibel could attack him with that moment's notice. Instead his hardy gaze remained transfixed on Halibel, who managed to survive an intensely powerful fireball and only have parts of her uniform burnt away as a result. Her heavily bloodstained trousers were now shorts that finished a good few inches above her knee and her jacket was nothing but a pair of sleeves and a collar... yet revealing something rather unexpected.

Instead of seeing naked flesh, Halibel's Hollow mask was now in plain view in its entirety. Starting from the tip of her nose this ivory coloured mask covered most of her cheeks, her entire jawline and all of her neck, separating into two at her breastbone with both parts finishing with a smooth, curved edge over her nipples. Thanks to her mask her jawline was also unusual; a large set of pointed teeth that looked almost canine and made her look gumless and without lips, like that of the lower half of a skull.

At this point the wind decided to make another appearance, making low howls while swirling around the pair of figures and cascading hair in an easterly direction. It took a few seconds before Yamamoto decided to shut up the element, choosing to break the silence by speaking to his enemy.

"You've got this much power..." he began, looking at Halibel's numeric tattoo pensively. "Yet you are still only the tercera Espada?"

"This much power?" Halibel retorted, bringing her zanpaktou down loyally by her side. "I have no recollection of showing you or anybody exactly what I can do."

Refusing to direct his glance away from Halibel, Yamamoto casted his free hand over the trio of guillotined heads that were still by his feet, an air of equal sadness and anger directed in the action. "So what was this then?" he asked bluntly.

Halibel blinked, detecting the change of tone in Yamamato's voice and relishing in aforementioned difference. She then gripped her weapon with both of her hands and pointed it forcefully at Soul Society's commander general.

"You killed my three Fraccion, one of whom was my girlfriend, with one swing of that fiery blade of yours. I thought I would return the gesture by getting rid of three of your army just as quickly."

"So this was nothing but a callous revenge from a devastated lover?"

"Way more than that old man."

"Then what?"

"Three for three." Halibel stated pointedly, her glare intensifying and her impatience growing with each passing second. "I am a firm believer in fighting fair, because I am fully capable of dispatching a group of enemies with so much ease that it's boring and makes me develop concern for them. So when you murdered my Fraccion, I had to retaliate by wiping out the same number of people."

"An interesting philosophy..." Yamamoto mused with careful thought before hoisting his zanpaktou into the air, fire consuming the blade within a matter of seconds. "It is one that shows tremendous courage. But for your heartless actions in killing three of my strongest fighters, including one of my fellow captains, I will do nothing else but simply show no mercy to your soul and burn you away."

Halibel remained still. "Quit your whining already. If you wanted heartless I could have attacked both the other lieutenant who came to Blondie's rescue and the one who Allon smashed into a wall... but I didn't. Besides, they will be dead from their injuries before long."

That was enough for Yamamoto to be pushed to the edge, the fire surrounding his zanpaktou gaining rapid momentum as he swung it down in front of him. Flames spewed from the weapon in a few different directions causing the air nearby to heat up but Halibel remained totally unfazed, letting her own blade charge up again. Honey coloured eyes of the Espada remained locked into the deep brown eyes of the ancient soul reaper while the tension between the pair increased so dramatically it was almost overbearing.

"Three for three you say, Espada? So you would not mind if I killed not only you but the two that are higher ranked than yourself?"

"That will not happen. I am powerful, but I am the tercera for a reason. I have to respect both Stark and Barragan for they, like I to you, will annihilate their opponents with ease. That is my promise not only to you, but to Apache, for you are her murderer and one who is just as heartless as I."

And with that last word said both Halibel and Yamamoto seized the moment, rushing towards each other with weapons fully charged and more than ready to battle each other to the death.


End file.
